Circular knitting apparatus and method adapted to continuous rotative knitting of partial courses



Sept. 6, 1966 QNDAY 3,270,527

Z. M CIRCULAR KNITTING APPARATUS AND METHOD ADAPTED T0 CONTINUOUS ROTATIVE KNITTING 0F PARTIAL-COURSES Filed Oct. 24, 1963 10 Sheets-Sheet 1 I NTOR. 9 W

% 4 fifi ATTOH/VE Y Sept. 6, 1966 z MONDAY 3,270,527

CIRCULAR KNITTING APPARATUS AND METHOD ADAPTED To CONTINUOUS ROTATIVE KNITTING 0F PARTIAL COURSES l0 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 24, 1963 NVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

3,270,527 0 CONTINUOUS Z. MONDAY Sept. 6, 1966 CIRCULAR KNITTING APPARATUS AND METHOD ADAPTE'D T ROTATIVE KNITTING OF PARTIAL COURSES l0 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Oct. 24, 1963 ATTORNEY Sept. 6, 1966 MONDAY 3270,52?

Z. CIRCULAR KNITTING APPARATUS AND METHOD ADAPTED T0 CONTINUOUS ROTATIVE KNITTING 0F PARTIAL COURSES Flled Oct. 24, 1965 10 Sheets-Sheet 4 INTERMH'TENTLY ROTATABLE SNKER CAM"\ INVENTOR.

INTERMITTENTLY ROTATABLE ssARf ATTORNEY Sept. 6, 1966 z. MONDAY 3,270, 27 CIRCULAR KNITTING APPARATUS AND METHOD ADAPTED TO CONTINUOUS ROTATIVE KNITTING OF PARTIAL COURSES Filed Oct. 24, 1963 10 Sheets-Sheet 5 J FIG. 5.

INTERMWTENTLY ROTATABLE YARN F-EED AND LA'rcn RING ASSEMBLY.

ATTORNEY p 6, 1966 2. MONDAY 3,270,527

CIRCULAR KNITTING APPARATUS AND METHOD ADAPTED T0 CONTINUOUS ROTATIVE KNITTING OF PARTIAL COURSES Filed Oct. 24, 1963 10 Sheets-Sheet 6 1 OPERAT\ON.

F IG. 6. 2 $5 I80 M4 i gNVENTOR.

,o f fiflM M' ATTORNEY.

Sept. 6, 1966 z. MONDAY CIRCULAR KNITTING APPARATUS AND METHOD ADAPTED TO CONTINUOUS ROTATIVE KNITTING 0F PARTIAL COURSES Filed Oct. 24, 1963 10 Sheets-Sheet 7 lN OPERATKJN l x I l i I I I y I I a} I t v I 6 4 I 6| f 1:! M '11 62 i FIGS).

ATTORNEY Sept. 6, 1966 M NDAY 3,270,527

Z. O CIRCULAR KNITTING APPARATUS AND METHOD ADAPTED TO CONTINUOUS ROTATIVE KNITTING OF PARTIAL COURSES Filed Oct. 24, 1963 10 Sheets-Sheet a W YARN FEED OPERATING WHILE ROTATING FASTER THAN CYUNDER.

Z i a QgVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

p 6, 1966 2. MONDAY 3,270,527

CIRCULAR KNITTING APPARATUS AND METHOD ADAPTED TO CONTINUOUS ROTATIVE KNITTING OF PARTIAL COURSES l0 Sheets-Sheet 9 Filed Oct. 24 1963 FIG. I6.

Sept. 6, 1966 2. MONDAY 3,270,

CIRCULAR KNITTING APPARATUS AND METHOD ADAPTED TO CONTINUOUS HOTATIVE KNITTING OF PARTIAL COURSES Filed Oct. 24, 1963 10 Sheets-Sheet 10 109 mT- 280 108 121 a4 FIG. 18 705 1 120 125 12 J W108 gsa /m g\ /2so 121 W @841 FIG. 20 105 FIG. 19

F v r n c o n INVENTOR. Zephyr Monday ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,270,527 CIRCULAR KNITTING APPARATUS AND METH- 0D ADAPTED T0 CONTINUOUS ROTATIVE KNITTHNG 0F PARTIAL COURSES Zephyr Monday, Mount Airy, N.C., assignor to U-Stretch Corporation, Mount Airy, N.C., a corporation of North Carolina Filed Oct. 24, 1963, Ser. No. 318,707 32 Claims. (Cl. 66141) This application is a continuation-in-part of a prior copending application Serial No. 209,150 filed July 11, 1962, entitled, Narrowing and Widening Apparatus and Methed for Knitting Machines.

This invention is generally concerned with circular knitting apparatus and methods and particularly with an apparatus and method which enables partial courses such as those found in heel-toe fabric of socks to be knit without float formation and without requiring reciprocatory movements.

In circular knitting machines of the kind employed in making childrens and mens stockings, womens hosiery, tights and similar circular knit products it is frequently necessary to form partial courses, that is courses of yarn which are of less length than the full periphery of the needle circle. For example, heel-toe courses, high splice, double sole, and argyle courses as found in sock and hosiery manufacture involve the knitting of partial courses. Generally speaking, circular knitting machines of the kind in question utilize a rotatable needle cylinder and form partial courses either by maintaining the cylinder in rotative movement, forming floats and later cutting out the floats or else by placing the machine in a reciprocatory movement and forming partial courses without floats.

An advance in the art is suggested by British Patent 570,180 to Bernard T. Cole of June 26, 1945. In the Cole patent, the machine is said to maintain a rotative movement and the float thread which would normally form a float in the knitted fabric is shown in the patent as being measured, drawn out of the knitting circle and temporarily held, and then fed back and knitted by the needles. Under the Cole method partial courses formed from the conventionally termed float thread are knit in alternate courses and alternate revolutions of the cylinder and other partial courses forming a continuation of the alternate partial courses are knit directly from the thread supply in intervening courses and intervening revolutions of the cylinder. These partial courses appear as being interknit with full body yarn courses which continue being formed while the partial courses are being formed. Of additional interest is that the Cole method involves the measurement of a predetermined length of float thread and it is this length of float thread that is subsequently knit back at the normal feed point during every other cylinder rotation.

What is believed to be an even more substantial advance in the art is represented by the knitting apparatus and method disclosed in my co-pending application Serial 209,150 referred to above in that while maintaining the cylinder in rotation, a plurality of partial courses are enabled to be formed during each cylinder revolution without requiring either forming, measuring or withdrawing float thread. The invention of the co-pending application has been found to be particularly useful in regard to knitting sock heel-toe fabric. To better understand the present invention and to generally summarize the inven tion of the co-pending application as applied to heel-toe knitting, when either the heel or toe is reached the needles are divided into two groups. The needles in one group are made inactive while the needles in the other group remain active. Those needles which are made inactive represent needles which hold the stitches, such as the instep stitches, during formation of the respective heel or toe while the active needles represent those needles used in narrowing and widening. The needles in the active group are made to take yarn at a first feed point and are then passed through stitching and shedding cams. The yarn being mentioned is a yarn which is fed to the needles through a unique yarn feed device during the narrowing and widening, the regular body yarn being preferably withdrawn during such time. As the trailing needle in the active group leaves the first shedding cams, the special yarn feed device is arranged so that it can be moved around almost instantaneously and at a speed exceeding the speed of the cylinder to a second feed point located ahead of the leading needle of the group. In doing so, the same yarn is cast on the hooks of all the needles in the active group. As the needles continue to move with this last mentioned yarn under their hooks, they pass through a second set of stitch and shedding cams and then return to the first feed point. Thus in each rotation of the cylinder the active needles will have received the same yarn at two separate points and will have knit in this yarn at both points. The passing of the needles through each point results, in effect, in knitting one course so that two courses of the same yarn are knit on each rotation without reciprocation.

Referring further to my copending application Serial 209,150, when the leading needle of the active knitting group has returned to the first feed point, the special yarn feed device is arranged so that its rotative movement brings it back to its original position at the first feed point and makes it ready to serve the same yarn once again to the active needles. The needles again receive yarn at the first feed point and thereafter go through the first stitch and shedding cams and then again receive yarn at the second feed point and thereafter go through the second stitch and shedding cams. However, in repeating the cycle of knitting as described, one or more needles may be dropped from or added to the active group by means of jack butt selection at either one or both of the knitting points resulting in the fabric being narrowed or widened to the extent that needles may be dropped from or added to the active group by means of jack butt selection at either' one or both of the knitting points resulting in the fabric being narrowed or widened to the extent that needles are dropped or added. The needles dropped become part' of the inactive stitch holding group. On the next sequence through the two knitting stations, needles may again be dropped or added before either or both points and in the same manner in subsequent sequences. By dropping needles before each knitting point until the fabric is down to some desired number of needles followed by the addition of needles back to the original number, narrowing and widening can be accomplished solely by jack butt selection.

It seems important that the reader should recognize that the described knitting sequence takes place with continuous rotation of the cylinder and that the same yarn is knit twice into the heel or toe portion as the case may be on each rotation of the cylinder. Thus, the method and apparatus of the invention provides a means of relatively fast widening and narrowing which does not require the rigorous and relatively slow oscillating apparatus normally encountered. We now leave the copending invention.

With the foregoing in mind, it can be said that the general object of the present invention is to provide an improved circular knitting apparatus and method especially adapted to partial course formation and particularly to knitting two such courses of the same yarn in each cylinder rotation.

Another general object is to provide improved circular knitting apparatus and method utilizing an intermittently rotating feed especially adapted to partial course formation.

Another more specific object is to provide an improved circular knitting apparatus and method especially adapted to utilize an intermittently rotating feed with continuously rotating needles for partial course formation on a selected group of needles such that alternate partial courses may be formed by feeding and knitting from the leading to the trailing needle in the group and intervening partial courses may be formed by feeding and knitting from the trailing to the leading needle in the group.

Another object is to provide an improved circular knitting apparatus and method in which stitches may be formed while rotating in the same direction the needles, the feed, the stitch team and the sinker cam.

Another object is to provide an improved method and apparatus for obtaining relative rotative movement between a yarn feed and the needles in a circular knitting machine.

Another object is to provide an improved circular knitting apparatus and method adapted to :utilize simultaneous rotation of the needles, the feed, sinker cam and stitch cam for the purpose of course formation while in rotative movement.

Another object is to provide for circular knitting apparatus an improved means for driving in intermittent rotative movement components such as the feed, stitch cam, latch ring and sinker cam.

Another object is to provide for circular knitting apparatus a means by which the order of the feed, sinker cam and stitch cam may be reversed while the apparatus continues in operation.

Another object is to provide an improved intermittently rotatable yarn feed structure which does not inter- 'fere with needle circle space normally allocated to binders, dial needles and the like.

Another object is to provide for circular knitting apparatus a means by which stationary stitch cams may be effectively made inoperative while a rotating stitch cam is moving past the location of such fixed stitch cams.

Another object is to eliminate float formation, float trimming operations and the like in sock and hosiery type manufacture.

Other objects stated in the prior co-pending application apply to the present invention in addition to the objects stated above, all of Which objects will become apparent along with other objects as the description proceeds and in the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of the principal components of a circular knitting machine embodying the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view similar to FIGURE 1 but with a top cover plate removed, being taken generally along line 2-2 of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 3 is a vertical section view along the line 3-3 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is an exploded perspective view of the intermittently rotated gear drive and sinker cam drive employed in the invention.

FIGURE 5 is an exploded perspective view of the intermittently rotated yarn feed and latch ring assembly.

FIGURE 6 is a cut-away perspective illustrating the intermittently rotating stitch cam action.

FIGURE 7 is a perspective of a typical radially movable raise and stitch or levelling cam assembly employed in the invention.

FIGURE 8 is a partial perspective illustrating a clutch linkage employed in the invention.

FIGURE 9 is a perspective illustrating yarn feeding while the intermittently rotating feed is fixed.

FIGURE 10 is a perspective illustrating yarn feeding while the intermittently rotating feed is moving in the same direction as the needles but at a faster speed.

FIGURE 11 is an underside view of the member employed as a sinker roam.

FIGURE 12 is a schematic view illustrating how various conventional cams are placed around the knitting circle in conjunction with the special intermittently rotatable knitting instrumentalities of the present invention and showing the special instrumentalities in their fixed positions.

FIGURE 13 is a schematic view illustrating the order of a rotatable sinker cam, a rotatable stitch cam and a rotatable yarn feed employed in the invention immediately after being released from fixed positions and just prior to commencement of rotation.

FIGURE 14 is a schematic view similar to FIGURE 13 but showing the special group of knitting instrumentalities, namely the rotating sinker cam, stitch cam and yarn feed as they approach the trailing needle of a selected group of needles at a speed greatly exceeding the needle or cylinder speed.

FIGURE 15 is a schematic view similar to FIGURE 14 but showing the group of knitting instrumentalities as it passes the leading needle of the selected needle group and causes a partial course formation.

FIGURE 16 is a schematic view similar to FIGURE 15 but showing the group of knitting instrumentalities as it approaches the fixed position from which it started.

FIGURE 17 is a schematic view similar to FIGURE 12 showing the group of knitting instrumentalities just prior to being rearranged back to fixed positions and preparatory to knitting another partial course.

FIGURE 18 is a partial elevation illustrating the relative positions of the sinker cam control members an instant after the sinker cam has been stopped and the control members being arranged back to their fixed positions.

FIGURE 19 is a partial elevation illustrating the relative positions of the sinker cam control members the instant after being rearranged preparatory to rotating.

FIGURE 20 is a partial elevation illustrating the relative positions of the sinker cam control members when fixed.

FIGURE 21 is a schematic representation of how the needles are arranged from partial course to partial course during Widening.

Before proceeding to a general and then a detailed description of the present invention, it seems well to review certain characteristics of circular knitting machines known to the art. In the class of circular knitting machines employed to make socks, hosiery, tights and similar size tubular knit products, the apparatus and methods employed utilize a cylinder which carries the needles and which preferably continuously rotates at varying speeds but which can be made to reciprocate for heel-toe, argyle and similar stitch formations. The yarn feeds conventionally employed can be moved vertically or pivotally into and out of action but are substantially fixed so far as rotative movement in the sense of the cylinder movement is concerned. Some prior art such as United States Patent 2,996,903 tea-ch limited feed movement. While some prior art teaches rotative feed movement in a rotating cylinder machine, the movement is generally either around some axis parallel to or at an angle to the cylinder axis and not around the cylinder axis however the comparatively recent prior art in England and Germany has begun to teach intermittent yarn feed rotative movement around the cylinder axis.

The stitch cams in a rotating cylinder type machine are also conventionally fixed when the cylinder rotates through some relatively fixed cams in the prior art are movable vertically and radially for going in and out of action or changing stitch length. The sinker cap which contains the sinker cam can in some machines be slightly.

rotated or recip'rocated to advance or retard the sinker cam action but the sinker cam can generally be treated as a fixed member. Considering the general run of sock and hosiery machinery, it can be said then that the cylinder and needles are always either rotating or reciprocating while the stitch cams, sinker cams and feeds generally remain relatively fixed. The relative rotative movement of the needles and yarn feed, for example, conventionally arises by reason of the needles rotating past a fixed feed.

In another class of circular knitting machinery, the cylinder and cylinder needles remain stationary while the feeds and stitch cams rotate. United States Patent 2,775,880, for example, deals with this kind of machine which is also adaptable to tubular knit fabric. In a still further class of circular knitting machines as shown for example in Patent 2,213,454, there is provided certain yarn feeds which at times continuously rotate around some axis other than the cylinder axis while the cylinder and needles rotate around the cylinder axis. 'Taking the mentioned classes of circular knitting machines and their method of operation into account, those skilled in the art will immediately appreciate that the invention disclosed in my co-pending application Serial 209,150 and in the present application depart from the art in providing apparatus and method built around the concent of employing a continuously rotating cylinder combined with a yarn feed which from a fixed position rotates intermittently around the knitting circle and its axis at a speed exceeding the cylinder speed and past a plurality of spaced knitting stations such that the same yarn is enabled to be knit on the same needles at least twice in each revolution of the cylinder with the thread running back and forth as it does in a reciproc-atory stitch so as to form partial courses all of which are knit in without requiring forming, measuring, withdrawing, knitting in or cutting of float thread.

While the prior art has taught knitting the same yarn at spaced stations in reciprocatory type knitting as well as in the stationary cylinder-continuously rotating feed type knitting, the prior art has heretofore failed to teach circular knitting and particularly partial course circular knitting with continuous rotation of the cylinder in the manner in which I have explained my invention as departing from the prior art. It will be immediatley appreciated therefore that the invention first disclosed in my copending application Serial 209,150 over which thepresent invention represents an improvement represents an opportunity to revolutionize the whole concept of partial course knitting as encountered for example in heel-toe, argyle, high-splice and double sole sock and hosiery knitting.

The description will now proceed to a general description of the present invention which may be compared with the foregoing general description of the co-pendin-g application Serial 209,150 noting particularly that in the case of the present invention, a stitch cam, a sinker cam and a latch ring all rotate intermittently in addition to the yarn feed rotating intermittently and all such intermittent rotation takes place around the needle circle or cylinder axis and in the same direction as the cylinder rotation.

Referring particularly to the present invention as applied to heel-toe knitting and using a somewhat arbitrary starting point in the two partial course sequence which repeats each cylinder revolution, the needles While maintaining continuous rotation are first divided into an inactive group which holds stitches and an active groupwhich continues to knit. After this selection has been accomplished at a needle positioning station, the needles are cleared and then leveled to a uniform yarn taking position by suitable fixed cams. With the needles so positioned and rotating, the intermittent rotating yarn feed then comes up from behind the needle group and reaches the last needle of the group followed in order by a sinker cam and a stitch cam all of which are at this time in rotation and at a speed greatly exceeding the speed of the needles. The yarn is placed on the needles, needle by needle from trailing to leading, and stitches are formed by the rotating stitch cam which overtakes the needles, the rotatable stitch cam being designed to make all other fixed cams which it passes inoperative at the time of so passing. With the completion of this first partial course, the yarn feed, sinker cam and rotatable stitch cam are brought to rest ahead, by means later explained, of the active group of needles and, by means later explained, in the order of the rotatable stitch cam leading the sinker cam and the sinker cam leading the yarn feed.

The active group of needles next receives yarn from the rotatable yarn feed, now fixed, and in sequence the group passes a fixed raise or clearing cam, the sinker cam and a separate fixed stitch cam which causes the yarn to form a second partial course of stitches. The rotating active group of needles are then reselected, cleared and leveled to a uniform yarn taking position. The yarn feed, sinker cam and rotatable stitch cam which at this stage are behind the needle group are now released for rotation and by an appropriate means to be explained later have their order again rearranged such that all are driven forward, at a speed greatly exceeding the cylinder speed, toward the trailing needle in the order of the yarn feed being first followed by the sinker cam which is followed by the rotating stitch cam. A third partial course is completed with the feed, sinker cam and rotatable stitch cam all in rotation in the same direction as the needles but at a greater speed. This is followed by a fourth partial course being knit with the rotating stitch cam, sinker cam and rotating feed being fixed and in the same order as for the second partial course mentioned before. Narrowing and widening takes place as desired or the number of active needles may remain fixed.

Certain basic and novel characteristics of the apparatus and method of the present invention should be kept in mind in connection with reading the detailed description which follows. Foremost is the fact that like the invention of the co-pending application Serial 209,150, the yarn is fed through a feed which remains stationary while knitting one partial course and which remains in rotation around the cylinder axis and at speed exceeding the cylinder speed while knitting a second partial course, both partial courses being knit on at least some of the same needles and with the same yarn and in the same revolution of the cylinder. In knitting what we might term the rotating course, that is the course knit with the various knitting instrumentalities in rotation, there is a difference between the invention of the co-pending application Serial 209,150 and the present invention aside from the fact that the present invention calls for rotation of a rotatable stitch cam and sinker cam. This further difference resides in the manner in which the yarn is fed to the needles during formation of the rotating course. In the co-pending application method and apparatus the yarn is cast on all the needles substantially simultaneously and stitches are formed by the leading needle first and the trailing needle last. In the apparatus and method of the present invention the rotating course is formed by feeding yarn first to the trailing needle then to the next adjacent trailing needle and so on until yarn is fed last to the leading needle. Stitches in the rotating course are formed in the same sequence, that is, the stitches are formed first on the trailing needle and last on the leading needle. While the method and apparatus of the co-pending application produces a satisfactory fabric, the method and apparatus of the present invention has the inherent ability to produce a looser stitch and the advantage of being able to feed the yarn more directly from the yarn feed to the needles which are forming stitches in the rotating partial courses.

Proceeding to the detailed description of the present invention, the invention is shown as it may be applied to what is generally a Banner type circular knitting machine. Since those skilled in the art readily know this type machine only those elements necessary to make the invention and its operation apparent have been disclosed. Furthermore no attempt has been made to'show conventional binders, conventional elastic and body yarn feeds, pattern drums, speed change gears or the like.

The machine frame includes a horizontally disposed base plate on which is supported a pair of jack selector drums 11, 12. Drums 11, 12 are convention-a1 and include the usual rocker arms 13 and jack selector cams 14. While not shown, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that drums 11, 12 are arranged to be stopped by appropriate indexing mechanism operated off suitable control cams so as to select different jack butts represented at 15 (FIGURE 3) and consequently different needles 16 at different times in the knitting process.

The needle cylinder 20 passes through base plate 10 and is rigidly secured in the usual manner to a horizontally disposed bevel gear 21 which in turn is driven by the main vertically disposed bevel gear 22 all being somewhat schematically illustrated in FIGURE 3. The drive mechanism for driving gear 22, the related speed changing mechanism, the usual pattern chain, pattern drums and the like while not shown may be located in the usual way below plate 10 and since they may partake of conventional form and do not, per se, form part of the invention the same are not illustrated or further described. It of course should be understood that for purposes of this invntion gear 22 is preferably never reciprocated but is always driven in the same direction and in such direction in this particular embodiment as to cause the needle cylinder 20 to rotate counter-clockwise as viewed looking down on the top.

The previously mentioned intermittent rotary motion is obtained by a gear train which starts with a spur gear that is rigidly secured to gear 22. Gear 30 is thus driven at the cylinder speed Whenever cylinder 20 is rotating. Meshing with gear 30 is a further spur gear 31 which drives a stub shaft 32 that in turn drives a suitable relatively fixed clutch plate 33 forming part of a clutch assembly generally represented by 35 which also includes a movable clutch plate 36 mounted on the end of a stub shaft 4%. Clutch plate 36 is suitably splined mounted, not shown in detail, and is adapted to be raised and lowered by means of a clutch control lever 41 (FIGURES 1, 2, 8 and 9) against the tension of a coil spring 42 surrounding shaft such that when lowered, shaft 32 will drive shaft 40 at the speed of shaft 32. Clutch assembly 35 may take any of the typical clutch forms and could be substituted by a transmission type connection or other equivalent means for making shafts 32 and 40 engageable and disengageable. Where a clutch is employed for the purpose it has been found to be desirable to employ either smooth face, positive gripping clutch plates or the type of clutch plates having fine corrugated faces so that the clutch plates may make positive connection without having to have some particular alignment at the time engagement takes place. Stated differently, the type clutch assembly employed should preferably not depend on a particular point on one clutch plate lining up with a particular point on the opposing clutch plate.

Shaft 40 drives a spur gear mounted in a gear casing 51 which also mounts a spur gear 52 driven by gear 50. Cylinder 20 rotates within and independent of gear 52. With clutch assembly 35 engaged it will be understood that a positive gear train is established between gear 52 and gear 30 and the speed of gear 52 will depend on the cylinder speed and the ratios of gears 52 and 50 and gears 31 and 30. With clutch assembly 35 disengaged, gear 52 remains stationary while cylinder 20 continues to revolve. In a machine employing 160 needles gear 52 has been arranged such that it will be driven in the heel and toe at a speed of 150 rpm. being three times the 50 r.p.m. cylinder speed. In this regard, it is well to point out here that the invention is more concerned with the relative speeds of gear 52 and cylinder 20 than it is with the actual speed of either and the actual and relative speeds can vary over a wide range. That is, in carrying out the knitting operation according to the invention embodiment being herein explained it is necessary that gear 52 intermittently drive a special yarn feed, a special sinker cam and a special rotating stitch cam (these being described in more detail later) at a speed greatly exceeding the cylinder speed irrespective of what the cylinder speed might be.

Considering particularly FIGURES 3, 9, and 10, it will be seen that the gear casing 51 receives support from vertical posts 60 which are secured to an annular ring member 61 that is in turn supported by other vertical posts 62 which rest on the base plate 19. Rising from ring member 61 and secured and supported therefrom are other vertical posts 70 on which is fitted a further somewhat annular plate 71 having a plurality of arm projections 72 through each of which there extends one of the posts 70. Set screws 73 make it possible to regulate and fix the height of plate 71 so that needle repairs and replacements and other maintenance operations may be readily performed. However, it should be appreciated that because the present invention has eliminated the conventional drops, picks and other mechanism found in reciprocating machines around the needle area, maintenance has been greatly simplified.

Attention is next directed to those elements associated with gear 52. As best shown in FIGURE 4, a set of four vertical pins are mounted in suitable threaded holes 81 evenly spaced around the top surface of gear 52, these pins being hereafter referred to as the drive pins. Each of the drive pins 8% passes through a small bearing plate 82, then through suitable holes as at 83 provided in an annular spacer ring 84, then through slots such as at 85 provided in an annular sinker cam member 86 and then through slots such as at 87 (FIGURE 5) provided in an annular structure 83 which is referred to hereafter as the yarn feed and latch ring assembly. Slots 85 are substantially longer than slots 87 for a purpose later explained. Spacer ring 84 is secured to the bearing plates 82 by means of screws such as at and the arcuate shaped inside edge of bearing plates 82 slide in a slot on the side of the sinker bed 1&1 (see FIGURE 3). Secured to the side of spacer 84 is a pawl member which is arranged to pivot around a screw 1% under the tension of a spring 107 that tends to rotate the pawl in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in FIGURE 4. Pawl 165 includes a front block portion 108 and a rear lateral extending rod portion 199 whose purposes will be referred to later in the description. Considering what has been described thus far, it should be kept in mind that clutch assembly 35 is only engaged when the machine is forming what has been referred to as a rotating partial course and at this time gear 52 is made to rotate at a speed greatly exceeding the cylinder speed. Rotation of gear 52 in turn causes posts 80, spacer 84 and pawl 105 to rotate at the speed of gear 52.

Considering particularly FIGURES 3, 4, and 11, the sinker cam member 86 contains the sinker cam track 110 (FIGURE 11) and the conventional sinker withdrawal portion 111. That is, so long as sinker cam member 86 is fixed as it is during the forming of every other partial course, it acts the same as the conventional fixed sinker cam track contained in the conventional sinker cap. Later in the description it becomes necessary to define the relative order or peripheral position around the needle circle of the sinker withdrawal portion 111 with respect to a rotating stitch cam and a rotating feed later referred to and for this purpose the term sinker cam is used hereafter as referring generally to the sinker cam member 86 but particularly to the withdrawal portion 111.

To complete the description of the sinker cam 86, there is provided a screw 115 which receives one end of a spring 116 the other end of which fastens at 117 to one of the drive pins designated as 80'. Spring 116 functions in connection with changing the order of the rotatable yarn feed, the rotatable sinker cam and the rotatable stitch cam and will be dealt with later in the description. Attached to the side of the sinker cam 86 is a small block 1% having a front extension 121 which engages release lever 125 (FIGURES 1, 2, 18, 20) and further having a rear face 9 126 against which the front block portion 108 of pawl member 105 pushes when sinker cam 86 is in rotative movement.

Reference is next made to FIGURE and the previously referred to intermittently rotatable latch ring and yarn feed assembly 88 which is supported for intermittent rotatable motion by means of the plate members 130 which reside in plate 71 and engage the slot 131. Assembly 88 includes a tapered lowered edge 132 which serves a conventional latch ring purpose both when fixed and when in its intermittent rotating motion andincludes slightly hollowed out portions at 133, 134 which is a somewhat conventional latch ring type operation mate with those needles being shedded and which need to be raised a substantial height before their respective latches engage the latch ring. A threaded pin 135 which is secured in a threaded hole 136 receives one end of a spring 137 the other end of which engages a block 138 having a hole 139 which engages the top of drive pin 80. Like spring 116, spring 137 by moving the assembly 88 functions to change the order or relative peripheral positions around the needle circle of the rotatable sinker cam, the rotatable stitch cam and the rotatable yarn feed when they are changed from their fixed positions to their rotating positions as discussed later. The yarn guide or feed 140 is fitted in a hole 141 provided on the inner wall of the assembly 88 such that when assembly 88 is fixed the yarn feed 140 is fixed and when assembly 88 is in rotation, yarn feed 140 is in rotation. A release pin 142 fittted in the lower side of assembly 88 is adapted to engage a release lever 150 (FIGURES 1 and 2) which assists in controlling the rotational movement of assembly 88. The precise operation of release lever 150 and the previously mentioned release lever 125 will be discussed later.

Of particular importance to the present invention is a rotatable stitch cam 175 shown in FIGURES 3 and 6 and schematically in FIGURES 12 through 17. Stitch earn 175 is secured to the bottom side of gear 52 and includes a front sloping cam surface 176 and a rear sloping cam surface 177. When stitch cam 175 is in its intermittent rotation movement at a speed exceeding the cylinder speed as depicted in FIGURES 6 and the front cam surface 176 engages the needle butts 180 and pulls them down to stitch forming level whereas when the stitch cam 175 is in a fixed position, the needle butts 180 may engage the rear cam surface 177 in a conventional manner and be brought to stitch forming level though as later discussed stitch cam 175 is utilized primarily in forming the rotating partial courses and not the fixed partial courses. Stitch cam 175 thus has the novel characteristic of being able to rotate intermittently at a speed exceeding the cylinder speed and draw down needle butts somewhat like a rotating stitch cam in those types of circular knitting machine having stationary cylinders and needles. The sinker cam 86 as well as the yarn feed and latch ring assembly 88 of course also have the same capability of being able to operate conventionally as fixed members and unconventionally as intermittently rotating members. Once this concept is fully understood and its significance appreciated along with the further concept of the present invention providing for the order or relative peripheral positions around the needle circle of the sinker cam, stitch cam and yarn feed in the direction of knitting to be one order when the respective members are fixed and another order when they are in rotation, much of the invention will become clear. So far as is presently known, no one has heretofore recognized the possibility of obtaining with a continuously rotating cylinder partial course formations in which the basic knitting instrumentalities, the sinker cam, the stitch cam and the feed, are fixed in one order for alternate partial course formations and are rotated at a speed exceeding the cylinder speed and in a different order for intervening partial formations.

In addition to the intermittently rotating stitch cam 175,

the invention employs in the embodiment being explained a number of needle positioning cams which are radially movable but are otherwise permanently fixed. Since these cams are conventional they are discussed with special reference to FIGURE 7 and 12. A typical arrangement of radially movable raising and lowering cams is shown in FIGURE 7. Of particular significance to the present invention is the fact that the cam block in FIGURE 7 which includes a typical raise cam 200 and a typical lowering cam 201 is arranged by means of the spring loaded slide blocks 202, 203 and rollers 204, 205 to be controlled and made inactive by the cam surface 178 of stitch cam 175. That is, as stitch cam rotates it is desirable that it be in sole control of the needle butts 180 as it passes them and for this reason cam surface 178 is arranged to make inactive any fixed cam block such as that illustrated in FIGURE 7 which stitch cam 175 passes in its rotative movement. A description of the overall cam and jack selector arrangement follows later. FIGURE 17 illustrates radial cam movement by cam 175.

It has been mentioned before that gear 52 depends on engagement of clutch assembly 35 for its rotation. Particularly when applied to the problem of knitting socks and hosiery, it is necessary to provide some means for keeping the clutch disengaged when knitting the leg and foot portions. To accomplish this the present embodiment uses the type of clutch operating linkage illustrated in FIGURE 8 and also seen in FIGURES 1, 2, and 9. In these drawings 210 represents a rotatable shaft mounted in suitable bearing brackets as at 211. Three arms 212, 213 and 214 are rigidly attached to shaft 210 so as to rotate with it. A control rod 215 connects to the previously mentioned principal clutch control lever 41 (also see FIGURE 9) which is pivoted on a suitable shaft 217 such that clockwise rotation of arm 41 (as viewed in FIGURE 8) causes clutch assembly 35 to engage and an opposite rotation causes clutch assembly 35 to disengage. Since spring 42 (FIGURE 9) always tends to force clutch assembly 35 in engagement it is important that arm 214 be held down during the leg and foot knit ting. For this purpose control rod 220 leads to a typical knitting machine control oam, not shown, which is active to keep arm 214 down during the leg knitting and control rod 221 leads to a separate typical knitting machine control cam, not shown, which is active to keep arm 214 down during foot knitting. Various conventional linkages well understood in the art are of course associated with control rods 220 and 221 to effect the necessary control it being necessary here only to point out to those skilled in the art that means of this general nature should be provided to keep the clutch assembly disengaged at such times.

The description has now covered those elements with which the invention is primarily concerned and attention will now be given to the inventions operation by referring to schematic FIGURES 12 through 21 which illustrate certain additional conventional elements but which are particularly concerned with operation of the yarn feed 140, the sinker cam 86 and the stitch cam 175. Keeping in mind that the invention is generally applicable to partial course knitting but that the embodiment .of the invention being described refers to sock and hosiery heel-toe partial course formations, the invention in such embodiment employs the cam and yarn feed arrangement schematically illustrated in FIGURE 12 in their relative positions around the needle circle at a time when the rotating stitch cam 175, the rotating sinker cam 86 and the rotating yarn feed 140 are all fixed in position.

As indicated in FIGURE 12, starting with a jack leveling (lowering) cam 250, the invention employs in sequence in the direction of cylinder rotation, a first jack selector 251 (corresponding to drum 12, FIGURES 1, 2), the rotating yarn feed 140, a fixed raising and clearing cam 252 which is radially movable as in FIGURE 7,

the rotating sinker cam 86, a fixed lowering (stitch) cam 253 which is radially movable as in FIGURE 7 and which brings the needles to a stitch position for each fixed partial course, the rotating stitch cam 17 5 (effectively inactive when fixed), a jack leveling (raising) cam 254, a second jack selector 255- (corresponding to drum 11, FIGURES l, 2), a second fixed raising and clearing cam 256 which is radially movable as in FIGURE 7, a second fixed levelling cam 257 which is also radially movable as in FIGURE 7 and which brings the needles to a yarn taking position for the rotating partial course and finally a jack leveling (lOwering) cam 258. Cam 258 acts as a safety device against broken needle butts and to supplement leveling by cam 250. While not shown, it will of course be appreciated that conventional binder and cutter for use between socks and a conventional elastic feed may be employed in conjunction with the rotatable yarn feed 140 when the same is fixed and knitting for example a sock top. However, since the binder and cutter, and the elastic feed and elastic supply may partake of conventional form they are not otherwise referred to. The yarn supply including yarn tensioning guides feeding the yarn 275 to the rotatable yarn feed .140 may also be conventional and are therefore not treated in detail.

To illustrate the inventions operation, it will be assumed that the last course of a sock leg is being completed and it is desired to start the heel courses. At this time the second jack selector 255 corresponding to drum 11 is indexed by conventional indexing means, not shown, to select those needles which will be active in forming the first partial course in the heel and the selected needles will be raised and cleared as indicated by the second fixed raising and clearing cam 256 following the second jack selector 255 in FIGURE 12 and the same selected needles will begin to approach the second fixed levelling cam 257 to "be placed in yarn taking position. As soon as the last needle in the group has been levelled several actions take place simultaneously; clutch 35 is engaged by appropriate movement of a typical control drum, not shown but previously referred to in connection with the FIGURE 8 clutch linkage; release lever 125 is pulled back by action of a conventional control drum, not shown, from its position of holding the front extension 121 of block 120 so as to free the sinker cam 86 for rotation; release lever 150 is pulled back by action of a conventional control drum, not shown, from its position of holding pin 142 so as to free the yarn feed and latch ring assembly 8 8 for rotation; and gear 52 is put in motion by reason of the engagement of clutch 35.

Just prior to all of the above described actions the rotatable yarn feed 140, the rotatable sinker cam 86, and the rotatable stitch cam 175 will be occupying the relative peripheral positions around the needle circle shown in FIGURE 12 which is their normal position when fixed. In order to move them almost instantly to the relative positions indicated by FIGURE 13 the forces of springs 116 and 137 are utilized. As will be explained later these springs will have been placed under tension at the time the yarn feed 140, the sinker cam 86 and the stitch cam 175 were moved into their fixed positions. Therefore when release levers 125 and 150 are released the force of spring 116 causes the sinker cam 86 to advance rapidly by reason of drive pins 81 being mounted in slots 85 (FIGURE 4). That is, the spring 116 tends to bring the respective drive pins 80 to bear against the trailing edges of the slot. (For example, 350 would represent a leading slot edge in FIGURE 4 and 3 51 would represent a trailing slot edge and drive pin 80', for example, will tend to move against trailing edge 351 by reason of the force of spring 116. At the same time spring 137 tends to advance yarn feed 1 40 rapidly by reason of the drive pins also residing in slots 87 and the effect of spring 137. The net effect is to almost instantaneously reverse the order of the yarn feed 140, the sinker cam 86 and the stitch cam 175 such that they assume the order indicated in FIGURE 13. In rearranging the order of the referred to instrumentalities from their respective fixed positions to their respective rotating positions, it is necessary to move the yarn feed 1411 a greater distance than the sinker cam 86 is moved. Therefore slots 87 of the latch ring and yarn feed assembly -88 are made substantially longer than the slots of the sinker cam 86.

' In the following instant of time, the gear 52 will begin to cause drive pins 80 to start revolving at a speed greatly exceeding the cylinder and needles speed and in one embodiment this has been made three times the cylinder speed. As the drive pins 80 revolve, the pin 80' because of being connected to pin 135 through spring 137, now relaxed and acting as a mechanical link, will begin to pull the entire latch ring and yarn feed assembly 88 around the needle circle at the same speed of three times cylinder speed. At the same time, block portion 108 of pawl will be located so as to push against the rear face 126 of block located on the sinker cam 86 and sinker cam 86 will start rotating around the needle circle at three times the cylinder speed. Since stitch cam 175 is directly mounted on gear 52, it will also start rotating at three times the cylinder speed. Thus, the yarn feed 140, the sinker cam 86, and the stitch cam 175 are almost instantaneously arranged in the predetermined spaced order indicated by FIGURE 13 and made to start rotating as a group of knitting instrumentalities at three times the cylinder speed. As stitch cam 175 rotates its cam surface 178 will cause to move radially and be inactive the various fixed clearing and stitch or levelling cams 252, 263, 256, 257 represented in FIG URE l2 and which are generally of the type shown in FIGURE 7.

While the foregoing is happening, the needles 16 in the selected needle group will continue in their rotation at the cylinder speed. Since the yarn feed 140, sinker cam 86 and stitch cam 175 are now moving at three times the cylinder speed, they rapidly move as a group while maintaining their spaced relation and quickly reach the trailin needle of the group as represented in FIGURE 14. As seen in FIG. 10, the yarn feed 141) now starts to feed the yarn 275 as it moves past the needles, as represented in FIGURE 15, with the yarn 275 reaching and being knit by the trailing needle first by reason of the sinker cam 86 and stitch cam 175 being immediately behind the yarn feed and rotating at the same very fast speed. That is, in the present invention the yarn 275 is fed to and knitted by the needles essentially one by one beginning with the trailing needle and ending with the leading needle.

After the stitch cam 175 has moved past the leading needle of the selected group as indicated in FIGURE 16, the invention operates to retension springs 116 and 137 and to rearrange the order and stop rotation of the stitch cam 175, the sinker cam 86 and the yarn feed so that each is in the same order as it was before the knitting group comprising the rotatable stitch cam-sinker cam-yarn feed started rotating. This is accomplished by reason of several actions the first of which is that the block 121) strikes release lever 125 thus bringing the sinker cam 86 to a halt and back to its fixed position as best shown in FIGURES 2 and 20. At substantially the same time that this is takingplace, the lateral member 109 of pawl 105 rides up on the fixed cam 280 as shown in FIGURE 18 so as to cause the front block member 108 of pawl 1115 to tilt down which allows pawl 105 to ride under the block 120. Sinker cam member 86 will now be at rest, however drive pins 80 are continuing to move and spring 116 will start being tensioned. The next action is that pin 1 42 strikes release lever thus bringing the latch ring and yarn feed assembly 88 to a halt. At this point drive pins 80 are still moving and therefore spring 137 is being tensioned and after a very brief interval of time the clutch assembly 35 is disengaged which .13 brings gear 52 and consequently stitch cam 175 to a halt and at this time stitch cam 17*5, sinker cam 86 and yarn feed 140 will be back in fixed position as indicated in FIGURE 12.

Even though the stitch cam 175, sinker cam 86 and yarn feed 140 have been brought to rest, the needle group will continue in rotation at cylinder speed and will be approaching the first jack selector 251 corresponding to drum 12 and in passing through the first jack selector 251 there will be a reselection according to whether the fabric is being narrowed or widened. While the needle selection at this stage could consist of simply adding or removing needles, it has been found that a neat gore can be accomplished if needles are added to each end of the group and the first needles'in from each end of the new group lowered so as not to take yarn. This is somewhat schematically illustrated in FIGURE 21 in which the top row of needles represent a group forming the first partial course such as the first rotating partial course of the kind which has just been described, the next row down represents a fixed partial course and so on. It will be noticed in each instance that as the courses are, in this case, widened, the first needles inside from the ends are I dropped so as not to take yarn.

After the needles have been reselected by the first jack selector 251, the selected needles will be shedded by the first fixed raising and clearing cam 252 indicated in FIG- URE 12, will then take yarn from the yarn feed 140, now fixed, then while passing the sinker cam 86, now fixed, will be drawn down by the first fixed lowering cam 253 indicated in FIGURE 12 so as to form stitches. Upon the last, the trailing, needle of the group passing through the first fixed lowering cam 253, the first fixed partial course will have been formed. The needles continue to rotate at the cylinder speed and at this time will be passing the stitch cam 175- and beginning to again approach the second jack selector 255 corresponding to drum 11. At this point in the description, it will be appreciated that the first jack selector 251 effectively serves as a selector for those needles which form the fixed partial courses that is those which are formed while the yarn feed 140, sinker cam 86 and stitch cam 175 are fixed whereas the second jack selector 255 serves to select those needles which form the rotating partial courses, namely those which are formed while the yarn feed 140, the sinker cam 86 and stitch cam 175 are rotating around the needle circle together at predetermined spaced intervals and at speed greatly exceeding the cylinder speed. It will also be observed that in this particular embodiment a rotating type partial course is knit first when partial course knitting is commenced.

Now as the needles go through the second jack selector '255, they are reselected according to the manner previously discussed in connection with FIGURE 17 and the needles selected are raised and cleared by the second fixed raise cam 256 indicated in FIGURE 12 and then start passing through the second fixed levelling cam 257. However, as soon as the needles ha-ve cleared the second fixed .clearing cam 256, the same sequence of actions will take place as took place when the first heel course, a rotating partial course, was formed as previously discussed. Release lever 125 is released which allows the sinker cam 86 to advance ahead of the stitch cam 175, as before, acting under the tension of spring 116. Release lever 150 is released which allows the yarn to feed 140 to advance, under the tension of spring 137, ahead of both sinker cam 86 and stitch cam 175. This puts the yarn feed 140, the sinker cam 86 and stitch cam :175 in the correct order for rotative action and at this time clutch 35 is engaged which puts gear 52 in immediate rotation at a speed three times the cylinder speed and, as before, through the action of pawl 105 pushing block 120, sinker cam member 86 is put in rotation at three times the cylinder speed and through the connection between drive pin 80' and pin 135 made through spring 137, the latch ring and yarn feed assembly 88 is also placed in rotation at three times the cylinder speed. The sequence of the yarn feed 140, sinker cam 86 and stitch cam rapidly overtaking and passing the needle group selected by the second jack selector 255 as depicted in FIGURE 10 and schematically in FIGURES 13 through 17 will be repeated thus forming a second rotating partial course.

In summary, the apparatus and method of the present invention accomplish the basic objective of forming partial courses on continuously rotating needles without leaving knit-in float threads and without having to draw off, measure or hold float threads assuch during knitting of the partial courses. Considering the rotatable stitch cam as being a rotatable knitting station and the rotatable yarn feed as being a rotatable feeding station, it will be seen that alternate partial courses are knit with the two such stations fixed and intervening partial courses with the two such stations in rotation. From the description and drawings, it will also be seen that yarn tension is very readily controlled because in both the fixed as Well as in the rotating partial courses, the yarn is being fed and knit directly from the yarn supply. Of further significance to the present invention is the fact that the unique drive arrangement for the rotatable feed, rotatable sinker cam and rotatable stitch cam leaves the central portion of the needle circle completely free for installing binders, supplementary fixed feeds and the like. This unique drive also allows these particular rotatable elements to be rearranged in their relative order around the needle circle between each partial course thus insuring a proper order of sequence Whether fixed or rotating.

Having described the invention what is claimed is:

1. A method of feeding and knitting a yarn to be knit into continuously successive partial courses in a circular knitting machine having a needle cylinder, a yarn guide rotatable around the axis of the cylinder, and a stitch cam rotatable around the axis of the cylinder including continuous rotation of the cylinder, continuous engagement of the yarn with said yarn guide and while said yarn guide and stitch cam are both maintained in operative positions, maintaining the yarn between said guide and the needles of said machine substantially non-floating, and with each revolution of the cylinder relative forward movement of both the said yarn guide and stitch cam with respect to the cylinder immediately after -a predetermined delay of both said yarn guide and stitch cam at a fixed station, such movement being through an extent sufficient to allow the yarn to be cast directly from the guide and be knit at least twice on the same needles in each revolution of the cylinder with said knitting being performed at least once by said rotatable stitch cam during each said revolution.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said knitting machine further includes a rotatable sinker cam and said movement and delay includes movement and delay of said sinker cam.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the relative peripheral order of said yarn guide, stitch cam and said sinker .cam changes both at the beginning and termination of said movement in each said revolution.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said yarn guide is advanced ahead of said stitch cam at the beginning of said movement and is stopped behind said stitch cam at the end of said movement.

5. The method of operating -a rotatable stitch cam in a circular knitting machine having a needle cylinder in continuous rotation which comprises the steps, during each revolution of the cylinder, of holding said stitch cam stationary at a fixed station while some predetermined number of needles pass through said station, then rotating said'stitch cam around the axis of said cylinder at a speed exceeding the speed of said cylinder, positioning said predetermined number of needles with said stitch cam while said stitch cam is moving past such needles at such excess speed and bringing said stitch cam back to a fixed position at said station ahead of said needles.

" l 6. The method of claim 5 wherein said stitch cam is held in an operative position at said station.

7. The method of operating a rotatable stitch cam and a rotatable yarn guide in a circular knitting machine having a needle cylinder in continuous rotation which comprises the steps of holding both said stitch cam and yarn guide stationary and in operative positions at a fixed station while some predetermined number of needles pass through said station and yarn is fed to said needles by said guide, then rotating said stitch cam and guide around the axis of said cylinder at a speed exceeding the speed of said cylinder, again feeding the same said yarn from said guide to said needles and positioning said needles with said cam while said cam and guide move past said needles at said excess speed and bringing said stitch cam and guide back to a fixed position at said station ahead of said needles.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the peripheral ortier of said cam and guide is reversed both at the beginning and termination of said movement in each said revolution.

9. The method of claim 7 including the operating of a rotatable sinker cam in the same manner and jointly with the said operating of said stitch cam and yarn guide.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the peripheral order of said stitch cam, yarn guide and sinker cam changes both at the beginning and termination of said movement in each said revolution.

11. The method of knitting in a circular knitting machine having a rotatable yarn guide and a rotatable stitch cam and a continuously rotating needle cylinder comprising feeding from said guide and knitting a first course of yarn on a selected group of needles while both said guide and stitch cam remain stationary and in operative positions and feeding from said guide and knitting a second consecutive course of the same yarn on the same group of needles while said guide and cam are both moving at a speed in excess of the speed of said cylinder and around the axis thereof, said first and second courses both being formed during each revolution of said cylinder and said guide and cam both being sequentially fixed and rotated each revolution of said cylinder.

12. The method of operating a rotatable sinker cam in a circular knitting machine having a needle cylinder mounting needles and sinkers in continuous rotation which comprises the steps, during each revolution of the cylinder, of holding said sinker cam stationary at a fixed station while some predetermined group of sinker butts pass through said station, then rotating said sinker cam at a speed exceeding the speed of the cylinder and around the axis thereof, positioning said same group of butts with said sinker cam while said sinker cam is moving past such butts at such excess speed and bringing said sinker cam back to said fixed position at said station ahead of said needles.

13. A method of continuous rotative knitting by a selected group of needles in a cylinder in a circular knitting machine having a rotatable yarn guide and a rotatable stitch cam which method comprises continuously rotating said needles in the same direction while feeding and knitting at least two courses of the same yarn on the selected needles in each revolution, alternate courses being formed while both said rotatable guide and cam are being moved around the axis of said cylinder in the same direction as said needles at a speed in excess of the speed of said needles so that said guide and cam overtake and pass said selected needles, and intervening courses being formed while both said guide and cam are being held stationary.

14. A method of continuous rotative knitting by a selected group of needles in a cylinder in a circular knitting machine having a rotatable yarn guide and a rotatable stitch cam, the selected group of needles including a leading needle and a trailing needle, which method comprises rotating said needles in the same direction while:

(a) holding said guide and rotatable cam fixed and in operative positions at a fixed station;

(b) feeding a first length of yarn from the leading needle to the trailing needle in said group while rotating said selected needles past said guide;

(c) forming a first course from said first length of yarn by rotating said selected needles past a stationary stitch cam, thereby progressively knitting said first length of yarn from said leading needle to said trailing needle;

(d) feeding a second length of the same yarn from the trailing needle to the leading needle in said selected group in the same revolution of said needles by rotating said guide around the axis of said cylinder in the same direction as said needles at a speed greater than the speed of said needles so that said guide overtakes and passes said selected needles and returns to said stationary position ahead of said leading needle;

(e) forming a second course from said second length of yarn in said same revolution of said needles by rotating said rotatable stitch cam around the axis of said cylinder in the same direction as said needles at a speed greater than the speed of said needles so that said rotatable stitch cam overtakes and passes said selected needles, thereby progressively knitting said second length of yarn from said trailing needle to said leading needle, rotating of said guide and rotatable stitch cam being substantially simultaneous.

15. The method of claim 14 including the step of advancing the said guide ahead of the rotatable stitch cam before rotating the guide.

16. A method of achieving relative rotative movement and stitching engagement once each cylinder revolution between a stitch cam and selected needles having butts in a circular knitting machine having a cylinder and cylinder needles in continuous rotative movement in a given direc tion around the cylinder axis which comprises holding the stitch cam stationary and in a predetermined operative position while butts of said selected needles pass the trailing face of said cam, then while maintaining said operative position substantially instantaneously rotating said cam around the cylinder axis and in .the same direction in which the needles are being rotated but at a speed which is in excess of the cylinder speed such that the leading face of said cam passes and engages the butts of said needles and then stopping said cam at said position ahead of said selected needles.

17. A method of continuous rotative knitting by a selected group of needles in a circular knitting machine having a rotatable yarn guide, a rotatable sinker cam and a rotatable stitch cam which method comprises feeding and knitting a first length of yarn on said selected group of needles while maintaining said yarn guide, sinker cam and stitch cam fixed in operative positions, then rotatively displacing said yarn guide, said sinker cam and said stitch cam relative both with respect to each other and to said selected group of needles so as to feed and knit a second length of the same yarn to said needles in the same revolution of said needles while maintaining said yarn feed, sinker cam and stitch cam in rotation around the axis of the needle circle at a speed in excess of the speed of said needles.

18. A method of continuous rotative knitting by a selected group of needles in a circular cylinder knitting machine having a yarn guide, a stitch cam, and sinker cam mounted for rotation around the cylinder axis, which method comprises fixedly positioning said yarn guide, stitch cam and sinker cam in a first knitting order and feeding and knitting a first length of yarn on said needles while said yarn guide, stitch cam and sinker cam are so arranged, then rotatively displacing said yarn guide, stitch cam and said sinker cam whereby to rearrange their order for feeding and knitting while rotating in the same direction as the needles, then feeding and knitting a second length of said yarn on said needles while said yarn guide, stitch cam and sinker cam are rotating past the said needles in the rearranged order and in the same direction but at a substantially higher speed, then bringing said yarn guide, stitch cam and said sinker cam to rest ahead of said needles and back to the said first order preparatory to repeating said sequence.

19. A method of knitting in a circular knitting machine including continuous rotation of a cylinder with needles and substantially simultaneous rotation of a yarn guide, stitch cam and sinker cam around the cylinder axis through one revolution for each cylinder revolution and being in the direction of movement of, at a speed in excess of, and at times coordinated with the position of certain ones of said needles whereby to cause said guide and earns to rotate past said certain needles and said yarn to be fed to and knit by said certain needles while said feed and cams are so rotating, said guide and cam rotation being periodic.

20. The method of claim 19 including the additional step of rearranging the order around the needle circle of said feed and cams between each such periodic rotation and feeding and knitting additional yarn on said certain needles from said guide While said guide and cams are so rearranged and fixedly positioned.

21. In a circular knitting machine the combination of a group of needles, means for maintaining said needles in continuous rotation, a yarn guide, a stitch cam, means for raising said needles for yarn taking at successive first and second stations, means to hold both said guide and cam fixed at said first station while feeding and knit-ting said yarn on said group of needles and means to thereafter release, reverse the relative order of positions around the needle circle and rotatively move both said guide and cam around the axis of theneedle circle in the direction of movement of and at a speed in excess of the speed of said needles, and to an extent to enable the same said yarn to again be fed to and stitches to be formed by said cam on the said needles while said cam moves through an are which includes said second station all in the course of each rotation of said needles.

22. In a circular knitting machine as claimed in claim 21 including sinker control means operative at both said first stations and through said arc.

23. In a circular knitting machine the combination of a group of needles having control butts, a cylinder mounting said needles, means for maintaining s'aid cylinder in continuous rotation, a stitch cam, annular means surrounding the plane of said cylinder and mounting said cam adjacent the circle of said butts and being adapted for rotation around the axis of said cylinder independent of the rotation of said cylinder, means active once during each revolution of said cylinder for intermittently rotating said annular means at a speed in excess of the speed of said cylinder thereby enabling said cam to be intermittently rotated around said circle at a speed in excess of the speed of said needles and said butts to be engaged by said cam and lowered to stitch forming position in,

an are determined by the passing of said cam past said needles while both said cam and needles are in rotation in the same direction but at diflerent speeds and means active once during each revolution of said cylinder for stopping the rotation of said annular :means.

24. In a circular knitting machine the combination of a group of needles, sinkers having control butts, a cylinder mounting said sinkers and needles, means for maintaining said cylinder in continuous rotation, 21 sinker cam, annular means surrounding the plane of said cylinder and mounting and mounting said sinker cam adjacent the circle of said sinker butts and being adapted for rotation around the axis of said cylinder independent of the rotation of said cylinder, and means active once during each revolution of said cylinder for intermittently rotating said annular means at a speed in excess of the speed of said cylinder thereby enabling said sinker cam to be intermittently rotated around said circle at a speed in excess of the speed of said needles and said sinker butts to be engaged and positioned radially in a knitting arc corresponding to the passing of said sinker cam through the same anc past said needles while both said sinker cam and sinkers are in rotation in the same direction but at different speeds.

25. In a circular knitting machine the combination of a group of needles, a cylinder mounting said needles, means for maintaining said cylinder in continuous rotation, a yarn guide, first annular means surrounding the plane of said cylinder, means mounted on said first annular means and mounting said guide adjacent the circle of said needles and being adapted for rotation around the axis of said cylinder independent of the rotation of said cylinder, second means active twice during each rotation of said cylinder for rotatively displacing the position of said yarn guide with respect to said first annular means and third means active once during each rotation of said cylinder for rotating said first annular means at a speed in excess of the speed of said cylinder thereby enabling said guide to be intermittently rotated around said circle at a speed in excess of the speed of said needles and to place said yarn on said needles at least twice during each rotation of said cylinder.

26. In a machine as claimed in claim 25 whereinsaid second means incorporates springs which are tensioned to effect said displacement.

27. In a circular knitting machine the combination of a group of needles having control butts, a group of sinkers having control butts, a cylinder mounting said needles, means for maintaining said cylinder in continuous rotation, a stitch cam, a sinker cam, a yarn guide, annular means surrounding the plane of said cylinder and mounting said cams adjacent the respective circles of said control butts and said guide adjacent said needles and being adapted for rotation around the axis of said cylinder independent of the rotation of said cylinder, means active twice during each rotation of said cylinder for rotatively displacing the relative operative positions of said guide and cams on said annular means, and means for intermittently rotating said annular means at a speed in excess of the speed of said cylinder thereby enabling said guide and cams to 'be intermittently rotated around said circle at a speed in excess of the speed of said needles once during each rotation of said cylinder and said butts to be engaged by the respective said cams and positioned in an are determined by the passing of said guide and cams past said needles while said guide, cams and needles are in rotation in the same direction but at different speeds.

28. In a circular knitting machine as claimed in claim 27 in which said annular means includes a first driving annular means mounting said stitch cam, a second annular means mounting said sinker cam and a third annular means mounting said guide said second and third being driven by said first annular means.

29. In a circular knitting machine as claimed in claim 28 in which said means for rotatively displacing the relative positions of said guide and cams on said annular means comprises coil spring means linking said first, second and third annular means and holding means for periodically stopping said first, second and third annular means at difierent positions and being effective to retension said springs prior to each said intermittent rotation.

30. In a circular knitting machine as claimed in claim 28 in which said third annular means includes a lower edge adapted for service as a latch ring.

31. In a circular knitting machine the combination of a cylinder, a group of needles mounted in said cylinder, a corresponding group of sinkers mounted in said cylinder, a rotatably mounted yarn guide, a rotatably mounted sinker cam, a rotatably mounted stitch cam, means for maintaining said cylinder in continuous rotation, means for selectively raising said needles for yarn taking at successive firstand second stationary knitting stations, means 19 effective to hold said guide and cams fixed at said first station while feeding and knitting said yarn on said needles, means effective to thereafter release and change the relative order of positions around the needle circle of said guide and cams, and means effective substantially simultaneous with said release means to rotatively move said guide and cams around the axis of said cylinder in the direction of movement of and at a speed in excess of the speed of said needles and to an extent to enable the same said yarn to again be fed to the stitches to be formed by said stitch cam on the said needles in the are which includes said second station all in the course of each rotation of said needles.

32. In a circular knitting machine the combination of a cylinder, a group of needles having control butts mounted in said cylinder, -a plurality of successive knitting stations including at each station rotatively fixed but radially movable needle raising and lowering cams, a rotatably mounted stitch cam, means to rotate said stitch cam around the axis of said cylinder adjacent the circle of said butts once during each rotation of said cylinder and at a speed exceeding the speed of said cylinder, said stitch cam being adapted to actuate said butts and radially move said raising and lowering cams while in said rotation.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 407,960 7/1889 Murby 6651 2,626,513 1/1953 Lombardi 66135 X 2,775,880 1/1957 Philip 66133 X 2,911,807 10/1959 Lombardi 66-135 X 2,980,981 11/1961 Reymes-Cole et a1. 66-486 X 2,996,903 8/1961 Levin 6643 3,120,115 2/1963 Reymes-Cole 66125 3,192,741 7/1965 Hanel 66-49 FOREIGN PATENTS 570,180 6/1945 Great Britain.

872,375 7/1961 Great Britain.

318,796 6/1934 Italy.

OTHER REFERENCES Hanel, German application 1,124,264, January 4, 1962 20 (corresponding to 960,456, Great Britain, July 1961).

DONALD W. PARKER, Primary Examiner.

RUSSELL C. MADER, Examiner.

W. C. REYNOLDS, Assistant Examiner. 

5. THE METHOD OF OPEATING A ROTATABLE STITCH CAM IN A CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE HAVING A NEEDLE CYLINDER IN CONTINUOUS ROTATION WHICH COMPRISES THE STEPS, DURING EACH REVOLUTION OF THE CYLINDER, OF HOLDING SAID STITCH CAM STATIONARY AT A FIXED STATION WHILE SOME PREDETERMINED NUMBER OF NEEDLES PASS THROUGH SAID STATION, THEN ROTATING SAID STITCH CAM AROUND THE AXIS OF SAID CYLINDER AT A SPEED EXCEEDING THE SPEED OF SAID CYLINDER, POSITIONING SAID PREDETERMINED NUMBER OF NEEDLES WITH SAID STITCH CAM WHILE SAID STITCH CAM IS MOVING PAST SUCH NEEDLES AT SUCH EXCESS SPEED AND BRINGING SAID STITCH CAM BACK TO A FIXED POSITION AT SAID STATION AHEAD OF SAID NEEDLES. 